Almost Just Friends Read online

  With Cam, she’d shockingly had no problem being vulnerable and open. But that didn’t mean he was the right guy for her, because he wasn’t. He was temporary, a bed of her own making, and so she shook her head at Ry.

  “I mean it,” he said quietly, his voice free of any cynicism. “It’s about time you looked happy. You deserve that, Piper.”

  And then he was gone.

  She looked at Gavin. “What the hell?”

  “Just hear me out, okay? I’m trying to step up in a way I haven’t before. You deserve that. Ryland’s sister works at town hall. Through Ry, she got me all the information we need to turn this place into a B and B. And even better, because this house is so old, it’s considered a historical building, which we can use in our flyers and brochures and on the website.”

  Piper just stared at him. “We still don’t have any of those things.”

  “Yes, we do. Or we have mock-ups. That’s what I was showing Ryland, because you know he was a marketing major before becoming a firefighter.”

  When she continued to just look at him, dumbstruck, he took her hand and brought her to the coffee table, where indeed there were mock-ups of everything spread out in front of her, looking official and . . . damn. Amazing.

  “I’ve got the website up as well.” He picked up his tablet and showed it to her. “No one else can see it, but I’ve got a tentative schedule mapped out and we already have customers.”

  “What? How?”

  “Answering phones at the marina. I met an old military friend of Cam’s. The guy sends people on corporate retreats. They’re always looking for something private, something preferably on the water, something that isn’t too close to a big town to give a sense of team building, and guess what? This place checks all the boxes for them. Cam also has a travel-service buddy and said he’d hook me up with him too, who’d recommend us to his clients. It’s a shoo-in, Piper.” He let out a rough laugh. “How often can any of the three of us say we’ve ever been a shoo-in for anything?”

  She stared down at the gorgeous picture of the house they stood in, the cottages, the lake, the hills, the yard lit with the strings of white lights she’d had up since Christmas. But that wasn’t what she was thinking about. She was thinking about Cam helping Gavin find his way. And Emmitt being so helpful to Winnie. Seemed the Hayes men were also fixers.

  But in a much better way than she’d ever been. They were constructive about it, not having to control every single thing. In fact, Cam, the master of self-control, never actually tried to control anything around him.

  There was something to be learned from that, she knew, but hell if she could figure it out at the moment. She felt befuddled, probably from all the orgasms, but also probably from a nagging sense that while her life was still on the tracks, somehow she’d gotten off at the wrong station.

  “I think the words you’re looking for are wow and amazing,” Gavin said.

  “Okay, yes, both of those things. It was nice of Cam to help.”

  “He said he can see all the things he didn’t do right with Rowan, and he’s trying to fix some wrongs.”

  Piper worked hard at swallowing a huge lump in her throat and failed, so she turned away.

  Gavin turned her back to him, and swore at the glimmer of tears. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, with no little amount of panic.

  She blinked rapidly. “Nothing!”

  He looked pained. “Hell, Piper, I didn’t mean to make you cry. Shit. Forget it. Forget all of it, it’s just a pet project I work on when I can’t sleep—”

  “I’m not crying!” At least not all the way. “And I’m not mad. I’m . . . touched. Because it is wow and amazing. You’re wow and amazing.”

  “I know,” he said, making her let out a soggy laugh. “So what’s the problem?”

  “Gavin . . . we know nothing about running a B and B.”

  “Yeah, but why should that stop us? Not knowing how to be not a drug addict didn’t stop me. Not knowing how to be a mom isn’t going to stop Winnie. Is not knowing how to be a physician assistant going to stop you?”

  She sighed. “Yes.” But not for the reason he thought. If they did this, that would stop her.

  He looked at her and understanding dawned. “You think this will cost you your dream.”

  “I’m not sure how else to get tuition, and you and Winnie enough money to live on here while I’m gone. Plus this place is expensive to run, there’s a lot of maintenance and utilities . . .”

  “We’d succeed at the B and B, Piper.”

  “Okay, and while I do believe that, I don’t see it happening as fast as selling.”

  “Maybe it’d work out better, you ever think of that?”

  “We don’t have a lot of experience with better.”

  He nodded, set down the tablet, and turned to go.

  “Wait. Gavin—”

  “You’ve made enough sacrifices for us.” He turned back. “From when we came here until . . . well, even now you’re sacrificing for us, staying when I know you want out because Mom and Dad are gone and you’re all we’ve got. It’s our turn to sacrifice.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “I don’t know yet.” He paused and looked at her, really looked at her as if he wanted to see inside. “Please tell me you think about them.”

  Her chest went tight and she couldn’t speak. She thought about them all the time. But what was the use of telling him? She didn’t want him to hurt. “Gavin—”

  “Never mind.” He shook his head. “I can’t really even picture them anymore. I try, but it’s hard. And . . .”

  She closed her eyes. Because what was hard was seeing his pain. “And what?”

  “Do you think they’d have been okay with me?”

  “Oh, Gavin.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a hard hug. “They would’ve loved you,” she said fiercely.

  “Even the gay part?”

  “Yes, they would’ve loved every part, I promise.”

  He let her hug him for longer than he normally would before pulling back with a nod. “Thanks,” he said quietly and headed to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To meet up with my sponsor.”

  She blinked. “You have a sponsor?”

  “Yes. From my NA group.” He met her gaze. “I’m taking this seriously, Piper. I need for you to be able to trust me on that.” He glanced at the tablet and plans for the B&B. “On everything, just like I trust you.”

  “But how can you trust me when I didn’t even see that you were struggling with drugs?”

  “I told you that wasn’t your fault. Let it go. I mean it, Piper. For this to work, for any of it to work . . .” He gestured to the table. “Like me running the B and B for us while you’re away at school, for example, you’ve got to be able to trust me.”

  The door shut behind him and she said to it, “But we can’t do both the B and B and school . . .”

  “We’ll find a way,” he said through the wood.

  Shaking her head, she went in search of caffeine. If she was going to give up her dreams for Gavin’s and Winnie’s yet again, she was going to need a lot of it.

  Chapter 25

  “I’m going to take that as a hard yes.”

  Piper spent the next week working either at the station or on the property. She didn’t enter anything new in her journal, which was rare for her. Instead, she worked at checking some things off her various lists. Like not taking extra overtime, buying something frivolous—sexy lingerie, thank you, Victoria’s Secret—and . . . actually wearing the sexy lingerie.

  And though she’d agreed to think about Gavin and Winnie’s plan to turn the place into a B&B, she also still was exploring the option to sell.

  At least, that was how she’d spent her days. Her nights, other than the three days Cam had flown back East to train with his unit, she’d spent in his arms exploring their attraction for each other.

  But tonight was Emmi